External Foundations and Awards

There are numerous foundations in Germany that promote scientific research, young academics, and education. Most of them also award prizes to outstanding researchers and their projects. Some of the bigger well-known foundations are:

  

Robert Bosch Foundation

The Robert Bosch Foundation regards itself as an operational foundation that pursues its goals through its own programs, as well as a promotional foundation that enables third parties to develop and realize interesting ideas in the form of projects and initiatives for accomplishing social tasks both nationally and internationally. Through the programs and the funded projects, developments are initiated and changes to be brought about. Funds are provided for projects designed to supplement an already existing program and carry it forward in an innovative manner, or to contribute substantially to individual aspects of key research areas within the program.

 

Gerda Henkel Foundation

The goal of the Gerda Henkel Foundation is to stimulate academic projects in the humanities for a limited period of time and to promote continuing education for graduate students. The sponsorships of the Henkel Foundation are dedicated to the historical humanities, predominantly history, archaeology, art history, and various other historical sub-disciplines.

 

German-Israeli Foundation (GIF)

The German- Israeli Foundation supports basic and applied scientific projects in all subject areas that are carried out jointly by German and Israeli researchers and that are of mutual interest to the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the State of Israel.

 

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supports academic cooperation between outstanding foreign and German scientists and scholars. Through research grants and fellowships, researchers are able to come to Germany to pursue a research project they have chosen together with a host and a collaborative partner. As a German researcher, you will have the opportunity of carrying out a research project abroad by becoming a guest of one of the 24,000 Humboldt scholars across the globe, the alumni of the Humboldt Foundation.

 

Fritz Thyssen Foundation 

The purpose of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation is to provide direct support for science and research at universities and research establishments, primarily in Germany, with a particular emphasis on the promotion of young academics. The foundation therefore focuses on sponsoring specific and temporally limited research projects that are in compliance with the foundation’s funding programs and its financial capacities.

 

Volkswagen Foundation

The Volkswagen Foundation supports research projects across all disciplines. It provides targeted incentives to the scientific world within the context of changing funding initiatives.

 

Carl Zeiss Foundation

The Carl Zeiss Foundation supports scientific and mathematical studies in research and teaching and has therefore currently drawn up two programs, one for funding young researchers and scientists and the other for enhancing research structures.

 

There are, however, numerous other foundations, over 450 of which are managed by the German Stifterverband. Many of these foundations support individual projects, offer awards, provide scholarships, or provide publishing grants. At the Stifterverband website (under foundations and sponsors, then under foundations A-Z or funding) you can search for a foundation that may offer funding in your field. Please note that the Stifterverband can only respond to applications that are addressed to a specific foundation. General grant applications cannot be processed for organizational reasons.

In addition, FIT für die Wissenschaft will inform you about current calls for proposals.